Is It Possible To Stooze To Mortgage?

simonleblank

Has anybody tried to pay mortgage fees upfront for 9 months using stooze money, then using Mortgage money in a sweep a/c to pay off min payments on CC? While I wouldn't see the interest saved, is it worth it?

smartsaver

We have our mortgage offset by our 'savings' (stooze pot). This means we gain no interest on our savings but pay no interest on the proportion of the mortgage that is offset. As from 1st of May, when EGG anniversary kicks in, we will only be paying interest on 2k of an 88k mortgage

You do need a good stooze pot in proportion to your mortgage to make this work as most offset mortgages are a slightly higher rate of interest to the normal repayment mortgage. Someone on the mortgage section has done the exact figures. You do need to make sure you are not tied into the mortgage for too long though incase the 0% deals dry up for any reason, including them not giving you any more deals. :eek:

david78

Its certainly possible to do this. Its probably easier if you have an offset mortgage. But I have been doing it for the last couple of years using a simple flexible mortgage which allows withdrawls. Luckily I have been able to get more cards and keep my 0% debt going whilst continuing to pay off the mortgage. I have not therefore needed to withdraw money from the flexible mortgage. I only have a small mortgage now. Its really about £16k but with £15.5k of credit card money paid in, I pay interest and repayments to cover a £500 mortgage. This is to keep the mortgage alive until I can save enough money to pay off the 0% debt.

This is my "end game" for killing off the mortgage. The amount of my mortgage was too small two years ago to make remortgaging worthwhile, so I did this stoozing thing instead. I would definitely recommend this to savy borrowers who are in the final years of the mortgage. It is very comforting to know you are imune from the threat of interest rate hikes and can even look forward to them if you have some savings as well.

With a flexible mortgage like mine, it is not that easy to get my money out again (you have to 'phone during office hours when I'm at work), so I keep a small proportion of the "stooze" money in an instant access account (sometimes Egg, sometimes ING) to cover the minimum payments each month. A simple spreadsheet keeps count of all the balances on the different 0% cards, the stooz money in the savings account, the stooz money in the mortgage, and ensures it all balances out properly.

PS. One advantage I have found is that when I get a new 0% card and put the money in my flexible mortgage, the amount of debt that potential new lenders see on my credit file is always the same (because my mortgage debt is listed there and decreases to match the increase in credit card debt.) So this helps me to get new cards.

simonleblank

Thanks for this, It sounds the easy option to avoid 40% tax on savings (and not having to fill in a tax return)

cronshd

David78 - that has to be one of the best posts for a long time.

It would be good to hear some more of the very detailed stuff. I'm thinking of an idiots guide to stoozing. This particular aspect (managing your mortgage) could benefit a lot of people - and they need to know the micro-details.